Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Ayam Pongteh/Braised Chicken in Fermented Bean Paste

I am not really sure what Pongteh means, but basically Ayam Pongteh is chicken, potatoes, mushroom braised in fermented soybean paste. This is a must order dish in any Nyonya restaurant. The flavorful chicken meat that has been infused with the salty bean paste, sweet shallots and garlic goes really well with rice. My good friend Shereen who reside in New Zealand is kind enough to share her family recipe with us. Thanks Shereen.

Ingredients :

2 Ib chicken
300gm shallots
150gm garlic
3 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp fermented bean paste (tau cheong)
1 1/2 - 2 cups water (depend on how much gravy you like)
4 medium size potatoes – peel and cut into half or quarter
5 whole Chinese dry shitake mushrooms – soaked in hot water until soft
2 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar – more if you like it sweeter
2 tsp thick black soy sauce

1. Clean, removed skin and cut the chicken into bite size pieces. Pat dry. Put the shallots and garlic in a food processor and ground it into paste.
2. Heat up the oil in a frying pan; add in the ground shallots and garlic. Stir fry until fragrant and lightly brown.
3. Add in the fermented bean paste, stir fry until fragrant. Add in the chicken pieces, continue to stir-fry and until chicken changes to pale color. Put in the water.
4. Bring it up to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Add in the mushroom and potatoes. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add in sugar, black soy sauce. Continue to shimmer until gravy thickens, chicken is cooked and potatoes tender. Check seasoning.
6. Serve with warm rice.


Note: This dish can be kept in the fridge for a few days and it actually tastes better the next day.

17 comments:

Ju (The Little Teochew) said...

This is definitely comfort food. Love the presentation, love the bowl. Thanks to you and Shereen!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Lovely dish and I love your bowl!

mycookinghut said...

I have never heard of this dish before. Looks really appetizing and I will happily dive in! :)

Dori said...

You have some really excellent recipes, this looks awesome!

Geraldine said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Geraldine said...

Gert, looks delicious. I just bought potatoes and was gonna cook it. Try pork, I like using pork instead of chicken for this dish. My grandma used to cook this for us... delicious. You can add 1 kayu manis and 2 cloves to this recipe.

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

This dish is a signature dish for Nyonya, but I have yet to try out, will definitely try out your recipe soon. Thanks for sharing.

Mat Gebu said...

Ohhh...sedapnya ayam pongteh.....

petite nyonya said...

Nice dish! My fmly's version is wetter with more gravy, but with same recipe as yours. I stumbled a slightly different recipe from another nyonya fmly. Quite interesting actually.

Anonymous said...

This looks delicious! Makes me wish I could eat it now with steamed rice especially in this cooler weather.

Mary-Anne

ICook4Fun said...

Little Teochew, thank you.

LCOM, thank you.

Leemei, this is a famous nyonya dish.

Meeso, thank you.

JOAT, my mom cooked something similar for us and she used pork too.

Sonia, you are welcome.

Mat Gebu, memang sedappppp

Petite Nyonya, the next time I cook this it will be wetter as I too prefer more gravy in it.

Mary, this is really good with warm rice :)

Health Freak Mommy said...

I have 2 large chickens in my freezer and don't know what to do with them. I will try this pongteh chicken this week. Thanks for sharing!

Beachlover's Kitchen said...

I also wonder what Pongteng mean..I saw this recipe in one of my Nyonya cookbook too..hmmm.. look like a comfort food to me...bet it;'s must taste good with rice!!

DIANS said...

Hi, thanks for sharing your recipes. Love them so much.

I just cooked them last night. It was so yummy.

Christelle said...

Ah interesting, I don't think I've ever had a dish like this one, it sounds great, :) I don't think I came across one of your dish that I would not want to cook that's for sure, I love your blog as much as the first time I discovered it!! :)

ICook4Fun said...

Health Freak Mommy, hope you and your family like this dish.

Lesley, I have no clue ha ha.. yes it taste great with rice.

Dians, you are welcome.

Christelle, the next time you are in Malacca do try this dish out.

Maryea said...

I made this tonight (2nd time) from another website. We love this dish! I didn't know it was made with mushrooms. Will try that soon. Thanks.